Gojira, Post-War Japan and Autoethnography

A few weeks ago, I watched Gojira, the original Japanese Godzilla production. I also documented the experience in an earlier post, noting my unmoderated thoughts and understanding of the text. The task that I undertook in this post was an initial step in autoethnography – both a methodology and a product – wherein a researcher “systematically utilises personal experience to understand cultural experience “(Ellis et al. 2011). My analysing my own thought, inevitably informed by my past, culture, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and other cultural baggage – I can produce meaningful research which “expands and opens up a wider lens on the world.” (Ellis, et. al 2011)

The film Gojira is set in post-WWII Japan, and is in Japanese language. As a 20-something Australian women in 2016, I’m firmly placed as the “cultural outsider” described by Ellis (et al 2011). In my documented notes, I can see that there were many instances (well…